Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Cade put the number on the calendar, discussed the weather and found the day of the week in Spanish. He reviewed the colors, shapes and Sign Language words.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts:Reviewed what we learned about beetles. Today the children told me everything they know about trees. We discussed how trees give us oxygen and fresh air to breathe. We discussed why trees are important on the safari and in our neighborhood. Fun facts: Trees are the longest living organism on the planet and one of Earth’s greatest natural resources. There are many African trees like the Boabab tree, the Knob thorn and the Sausage tree. The Boabab tree is one of Africa’s largest trees, it can grow up to 98 feet; the largest ever recorded was 154 feet.

Physical Development:Discussed: What do you do if you are walking in your yard and come to a tree? Can you go over it? Around it? Through it? We looked at the I Can Write Project. I discussed how they were to follow the lines for the animals and make sure not to fall off the dotted line. I then had each child come up one at a time and practice writing their letters on the lines: Zz, Ee, Ss.

Language and Literacy:Discussed: What do you think you could see if you climbed up a tree? We looked at each of their Little Learning cards and reviewed all the shapes, letters, numbers and colors that they learned this month.

Mathematics and Reasoning ;Discussed: What do the tree branches look like in your yard? Are there leaves on the trees? We looked at a picture of an Acacia tree. This is the tree most often found in the African grasslands that giraffes love to eat off of. I filled in the tree with the oval foam shapes to make leaves. Each child came up one at a time to pick one of the leaves off the tree. They had to tell me the color, shape and size of it. We had yellow and green, big and little oval foam shapes on the tree. They then pretended to eat the leaf. When each child was done picking off the leaves and eating them the tree had no leaves.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Bowling pins and Waffle blocks Center 2: Little Learning Cards- The children will practice their cutting skills by cutting the cards out.Center 3:Cow Art for tomorrow’s lessons- The children will paint spots on the paper plate. They will then glue the head onto the plate and glue on the heart and stomachs. Cow’s have 4 stomachs. They will add feet and a glove for the utters. Center 4:I Can WriteProject– The children will trace the lines on the one side of the page. They will thenturn the page overandpractice making the capital andlowercase letters:Ss, Zz, Ee.

Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Cade put the number on the calendar, discussed the weather and found the day of the week in Spanish. He reviewed our colors, shapes and Sign Language words.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts:We reviewed what we learned about water in Africa. The children told me everything they know about Beetles. Fun facts: The beetle is one of the most common insects in the world. In Africa there are many types of beetles like the Goliath beetle, the longhorn beetle and the neptunides beetles. Beetles eat potatoes, grapevines or young trees, however some beetles like the Goliath eat ripe fruit.

Creative Development: Discussed: What color bugs have you seen near your home? We looked at the Beetle Art they will be doing in afternoon centers.

Science:Discussed:What kind of noises do you think bugs make? Explained that bugs make a variety of chirping, clicking and buzzing noises. I had an item in a bag.Each child came up one at a time to feel the item in the bag. After every child had a turn to feel the item, they guessed what theythought it was. They had a hard time guessing what this item was. I clicked the item and showed them that it was a clicker that had a beetle on it. We discussed how a beetle could sound like that. I then passed the clicker around and each child made it click while we counted how many times they clicked it.

Mathematics and Reasoning ;Discussed: How do you think a bug moves? Some bugs crawl, some fly and others ride on animals. We looked at their My Little Journals and talked about how we could get the Wildebeest to the lake through the maze.

Physical Development:Discussed: How high do you think a beetle can jump? How high can you jump? Each child showed us how high they can jump. I placed the Body & Brain box on the floor and invited one child at a time to come up and jump over it. They then picked it up and rolled the box and followed the directions on the side that landed up. There are 6 sides to the box with 6 different directions. The following directions are things the children could have done if it landed on that side of the brain box: Pat your legs 10 times; Pretend you have an elephant trunk; Jump 9 times; Make an oval with your mouth; Crawl to something yellow in the room; Leap to something green in the room.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Wooden Blocks Center 2: Beetle Art- The children will color the beetle any way they desire. They will then add sticker spots to the beetle.Center 3:My Little Journal- The children will go to the back page and follow the maze. They will take the wildebeest to the lake and make sure to look out for the lion so that it doesn’t get them.

Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Cade put the number on the calendar. He discussed the weather and found the day of the week in Spanish. He reviewed the colors, shapes and Sign language words.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts:We reviewed what they learned about birds and grass in Africa. Today they told me everything they know about water. Fun Facts: Water is made up of two elements, hydrogen and oxygen. Water covers around 70% of the Earth’s surface. We looked at the World Map to see all the water. Droughts occur when there is not enough water for people, plants and animals for an unusual amount of time. Some cultures do rain dances when there is a drought. Africa has the highest number of people lacking safe water to drink. People in Africa have to walk almost 4 miles to find clean water. In the Horn of Africa and the Namibian Desert, almost no water falls.

Language and Literacy: Discussed: What would you see in and around a puddle of water? We discussed the animals that would drink from water or live in the water in Africa. We looked at the postcard that the children will be doing in afternoon centers. We discussed what they learned about the Safari and what they wanted to write to someone. We discussed the animals we could draw on the picture of the postcard.

Mathematics and Reasoning:Discussed: Where does your drinking water come from? We looked at the pattern guide and discussed the items (cup, jug, pitcher and canteen). We discussed how the containers were alike and different. I placed two filled gallon milk jugs of water near the baby gate I picked two children at a time to go get the water and put it on their heads like in Africa and race back to lesson area. They discussed if it was hard to carry the water. Each child got a turn at carrying the water. We then worked on the Pattern guide to continue the pattern. This was harder for the children as they couldn’t remember the names of the containers. Pattern was cup, jug, pitcher, canteen, cup, jug, pitcher, canteen, etc.

Science:Discussed: How does a lake get filled up with water? Explained that water follows a cycle to refill water holes, lakes and rivers. We placed a rock in a small bowl and put the small bowl in the large bowl. We added hot water to the large bowl only and then put Saran wrap over the bowls. We placed a rock on the Saran wrap. We watched the bowls all day and discussed what happened. The hot water evaporated onto the Saran wrap and the droplets followed the wrap to the rock and then it dripped into the smaller bowl.

Creative Development;Discussed: What do you think happens to grass and animals when there hasn’t been rain for some time? During hot weather, sometimes it will not rain for a long time (drought); this makes the plants stop growing to try to conserve the water they have an if it happens too long, this can affect food sources. Some cultures have traditional rain dances. We took different toys and the children used them as instruments and we clanged them together to make music. We also danced around the room and did a rain dance.

Show and Tell:The children came up one at a time and discussed their item that goes in water. We discussed if it didn’t have water what would happen to it.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Little People Center 2:Postcard- The children will draw the Safari animals that drink water or live in the water. They will then write a letter to a family member about what they learned this month.

Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Cade is the new calendar and meteorologist boy for this week. He put the numbers on the calendar and discussed the weather. He found the day of the week in Spanish. Cade reviewed the colors, shapes and Sign Language.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts: Reviewed what they learned about African food. The children told me everything they know about grass & birds. Fun Facts: There is up to 10,000 different types of grass in the world. Bamboo is the tallest grass it can grow to 100 feet. There are different colors of grass like green, brown and yellow. There are many types of African grasses like the cat tail, red grass and stinking grass. The long grasses in Africa help large animals hide while hunting. There are over 10,000 species of birds in the world. The Honey guide bird in Africa has a special call to communicate with humans. There are many African birds like vultures, kingfishers and hornbills. All birds have wings. However, not all birds can fly.

Creative Development:Discussed: What is the biggest animal you have ever seen in your backyard? We looked at some animal pictures and discussed which one was the largest in real life. The children will make a backpack to collect their animals in on their Safari.

Social Emotional Development: Discussed: What could you find where you live that has spots on it? Which animals have spots on an African safari? I laid the ladybug cards face down and placed the giraffe cards face up. The children picked one of the lady bug cards that was face down and counted the spots. They found the matching giraffe with the same number of spots. I then passed each child a card with spots and a number on it. They had to place that with the matching giraffe and ladybug with the same number of spots.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: How is the grass in the African grasslands different from grass you see around your home? How is it the same? We had different sizes of grass. The children worked together putting the grass in tallest to shortest order.

Science:Discussed: What does your grass need to grow? Explained that grass needs sun, dirt and water to grow. We looked at their My Little Journals and discussed what they would be doing in afternoon centers.

Creative Development:Discussed: What is your favorite part of a bird? We looked at the birds they will be making in afternoon centers.

Language and Literacy: Discussed: What color are the birds you see in your neighborhood? We read the poem, “Two Little Blackbirds”. We discussed the rhyming words in the poem.

Physical Development:Discussed: What songs do you hear birds sing? We discussed the letter S. We learned how to write the letter S. Each child came up one at a time and practiced writing the letter S on the wipe off board. We will write the capital and lowercase Ss in our Journals this afternoon.

Mathematics and Reasoning ;Discussed: What clues might you find that let you know that there is a bird living nearby? Explained that a nest or other home can tell you what kinds of animals are nearby. Birds nests can be in trees, rocks, tall grass, marshes or holes.

Show and Tell:Each child stood up and showed all the green on their clothing that they wore today. Each child then came up one at a time to show the item that they brought that began with the letter S.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Legos Center 2:Back Pack Art- The children will assemble and color their backpacks. They will cut out and color their animals that they can put in their backpacks. Center 3:My Little Journal- The children will go to the green page. They will draw dirt, sun and rain and then cut pieces of green paper to add to their dirt.Center 4:Bird Art- The children will paint the bird pattern. They will then add an eye, feathers and legs. Center 5: My Little Journal- The children will practice writing their capital and lowercase S. They will then draw one giant S on the page and turn it into a songbird.

Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Lily was not here today so we did the calendar together. We found the day of the week in Spanish, discussed the weather and added the number to the calendar. We discussed the pattern. We reviewed the colors and shapes.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts:Reviewed what we learned about music. The children told me everything they know about food. Discussed: What type of food grows in the grasslands? Fun facts: The main food groups are fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins and dairy. You have to eat food to have energy. African food: Fish is typically cooked together with beef, chicken or goat. During times when meat is scarce, Africans will eat root vegetables like yams or sweet potatoes with eggs. Watermelon is one of the most widely eaten fruits in Africa. Slow cooking is a customary method of preparing African food. Ingredients are placed in a pot and slowly heated over a fire. Wheat, oats, barley, corn and sun flowers are foods grown in the grasslands.

Social Studies: Discussed: What is a food chain? Explained that a food chain is the story of who eats whom. In the African Savanna the food chain begins with grass and trees. The zebras, antelopes and giraffes eat the grass. Then, the cheetah, lions and snakes eat the zebras. Whatever meat the cheetah leaves behind, the termites, hyenas and ants enjoy eating. We looked at our Bilingual Books. The children helped me read the book again today in English and in Spanish. We discussed animals that are herbivores (eat plants) and carnivores (eat meat).

Language and Literacy:Discussed: How do foods like grains, fruits and vegetables grow? These foods begin as a seed and need water and sun to grow. We looked at the cover of the Storytelling book “Growing a Feast”. The children predicted what they thought the story would be about. I passed out the storytelling pieces to each child. Some children had yams, some had wheat and others had corn. I read the story and the children participated by doing what the story asked if they had that item. After the story, I asked questions to review and retell the story. Questions: What food was grown on the farm? (yams, wheat and corn). Where does your food come from? (grocery store) Have you ever grown a garden? (at Miss Kim’s) What was in our garden? What does a farm or garden need to grow?

Mathematics and Reasoning:Discussed: What is your favorite food? Does it grow from a seed? We looked at their Journals that they worked on yesterday. We discussed the number 10. We counted the 10 flowers and drums. We clapped 10 times. We found our 10 fingers and toes.

Social Emotional Development: Discussed: What kind of food begins with the /s/ sound? We looked at the S and discussed all the foods we could think of that begin with the /s/ sound.

Show and Tell: The children brought in 10 items. They came up one at a time to count out their items. Thomas and Lucas brought in 10 pieces of candy that they shared with the children.

Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Lily put the number on the calendar and discussed the weather. She reviewed the shapes, colors and Sign language words. She found the day of the week in Spanish.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts:Reviewed what they learned about migration. Today the children told me everything they know about music. Discussed: when do you or people in your family sing? Fun Facts: Music is made up of different sounds and rhythms. There are many types of music like country music, jazz, classical and rock. A musical instrument is a device created for the purpose of making musical sounds. There are many types of instruments like the piano, drums, guitar and trumpet.

Creative Development:Discussed: What could you use in nature to make an instrument? Explained that in the African grasslands, people use shells, leaves, nuts, seeds, sticks, and animal skin to make instruments. We looked at the shakers they will make in afternoon centers.

Mathematics and Reasoning:Discussed: Whatdoes the beat of a drum sound like to you? Explained that long ago tribes used drumbeats to communicate. The drum is often referred to as the heartbeat of the community. We looked at the hands-on number 0 and discussed what it was. We beat the drum zero times and discussed what that meant. We then looked at the hands-on number 1 and showed 1 finger. I beat the drums 1 time. We looked at the two numbers and discussed how to make the number 10 with those numbers. We then beat the drum 10 times. I had 2 bowls that we used to beat or clang together 10 times to listen to the different sounds it made. The children then took turns beating on the bowls and drum 10 times.

Social Studies: Discussed: What is your favorite kind of music? Does everyone you know like the same kind of music? Discussed with the children that each person has his own preference for musical sounds, tones, rhythms, beats and more. Respect means that you understand that different people have different preferences and you don’t judge them or make fun of them. We listened to our CD “Going on Safari” from this months lessons. We listened to the different beats in the music and danced, sang and followed the beat. It was all African music and fun to dance to.

Language and Literacy:Discussed: What do these words have in common: sing, shake, stomp, slap? We discussed how they were all music words. We then looked at the Hands-on letter S. We discussed the letter and sound. We then noticed that the music words all started with the letter S.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1: Lacing toys and Builders Kinect blocks. Center 2: Shaker Stick Art- The children will paint the small bowls and then staple them together with beans in the middle to make them shake. Center 3: Bilingual Book- The children will color the pages, add a picture to the last page and staple the book together. We read this book in lessons. Center 4: My Little Journal- The children will use paint to make 10 seed prints with paint and their fingers on the 10 page. They will then turn them into flowers and practice writing the number 10 on the page.

Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Lily put the number on the calendar and discussed the weather. She reviewedthe colors, shapes and Sign Language words.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts: We reviewed what we learned about huts. Today the children told me what they know about migrating. They did not know this term so we had to discuss. Migration is when an animal moves from one place to another in search of food. Fun Facts: Animal migration is the traveling of long distances in search of a new habitat. Most animals migrate to find food or more livable conditions. Many animals migrate like the elephant that migrates to find food during the wet and dry seasons; also butterflies, ducks and zebras.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: As animals migrate, where might they find water? Besides migrating, some animals, like the giraffe, will find water in the leaves and plants they eat. This helps them live longer without a visit to the water hole. Explained that water can be found in watering holes, rivers, and even on leaves after a rain. We looked at our counting card 10 and discussed the number. We practiced stomping 10 times.

Physical Development: Discussed: What food is in the shape of an oval? (avocado, mango, pickles, cucumbers) We discussed how we have to wash our hands before we touch food. We worked together to make an elephant snack. We used large round crackers, pickle slices and pepperoni slices to make an elephant face and then we ate it up.

Science:Why do you think animals migrate in large groups? Explained that it is safer to travel in groups than alone. We discussed why it is unsafe for the kids to wander around the town by themselves. We looked at our Z page in our My Little Journals. We discussed the letter and the sound. We discussed how to make the letter Zz on the wipe off board. We drew a patch of brown on the top left of the page. Then, drew a blue water on the top right of the page. Drew yellow grass on the bottom left and green grass on the bottom right of the page. Discussed how the children should never pick up their pencil when they move it in their journals to follow the story. Your animal begins at the brown dried up lake. He is so thirsty. He moves to the blue watering hole. Now he is so hungry. He runs the animal down to the yellow dried up grass. This grass is not tasty. So he moves his animal (pencil) to the fresh green grass. Oh-delicious! We discussed the shape that the path made when we followed the story with our pencil. It made the letter Z.

Language and Literacy; Discussed: What do you do when you start to run out of food? Many of us get our food from the grocery store or other food markets. Animals and some people live off the land, so when the vegetation (plants) or other food sources are no longer available, they have to move to where they can get more food. We looked at the I Can Count project sheet. We counted the elephants that go with this project. We put the elephants by the yellow grass and counted how many were there. We then put three elephants by the green grass and two by the yellow grass. We discussed how many where at each grass and how many were in all.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1: Lincoln Logs and bowling pins Center 2: My Little Journal- the children will practice making their Z’s and follow the story we discussed in morning lessons to make one large Z on the page. Center 3: I Can Count project- The children will cut out grass from the bottom of the page. They will then draw faces on the elephants on the side without the numbers.

Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Lily put the number on the calendar and discussed the weather. She reviewed the shapes, colors, and Sign Language words.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts:The children reviewed what they learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. Today the children told me everything they know about a Hut. They did not know what a hut was until we discussed it. What materials were used to build your house? Many huts in the African grasslands are built with mud. Fun Facts: Huts are made out of ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches and mud. A hut is a small single-story building, serving as a poor, rough, or temporary house or shelter. Huts keep out the cold and can shield families from nocturnal animals.

Creative Development: Discussed: How many people live in your home? A family can be one person or many people. Huts are used mostly for sleeping and not for everyday living. Discussed: what is needed to form mud. We looked at the mud hut art they will be doing in afternoon centers.

Science:Discussed: What might you use for the roof of a mud hut? We had 3 containers of colored water: yellow, blue and red. We discussed what would happen if we mixed two colors together. The children chose the two colors they wanted to mix and guessed what color they thought it would make. They discovered that red and yellow makes orange and blue and yellow makes green. We discussed things in nature that are green.

Mathematics and Reasoning ;Discussed: At your home, what does your family do together inside? Outside? In the grassland villages, the weather is warm and most of the family time is spent outside. Many families play, cook and eat outside. We used our homemade hut and paper people to do several math problems. Examples: I put one person inside the hut and counted how many are outside the hut. How many are all together? I put two people behind the hut and two people in front of the hut. How many people are outside of the hut? We did several other math problems.

Language and Literacy:Discussed:What happens if mud gets too dry? Too wet? I had the children all touch and feel the dry sand. We discussed it. I then added water to the sand and the children told me how it changed and how it felt different. I added more water and we felt and discussed how it changed again.

Show and Tell: Eachchildbroughtin a green item. They came up one at a time to tell about their green items.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1: Community Helper toys Center 2: Mud Hut Art-The children will paint a souffle cup with sandy brown paint. They will then cut out little people that can live in their huts.

Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Lily is the calendar and meteorologist for this week. She was not here today so Marissa did the calendar. She put all the numbers on the calendar, discussed the weather and told us the pattern. She reviewed the shapes, colors and Sign Language words.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts: The children told me everything they know about Martin Luther King Jr. Fun facts: Martin Luther King Jr. was born on Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist. He is known for many famous speeches. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Language and Literacy: We read a book about Martin Luther King, Jr. We discussed the book while we read in detail.

Mathematics and Reasoning:Discussed: When have you seen people marching? Explained that people march in parades and other celebrations. Some people march together to show they stand together for a common cause, such as peace. We counted how many feet were in the room. We discussed how the feet sound when only one set marches. We then had all the feet march together and discussed what we heard.

Language and Literacy:Discussed: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his hopes and dreams with others What can you do to help spread peace? They told me how they would spread peace and I wrote their ideas on hearts.

Creative Development:Discussed: What is one way you celebrate peace with others? What types of activities can people do together? Music has been known to bring people of different races and religions together for peace. The children made peace shakers in afternoon centers.

Creative Development:Discussed: What do you think would make the (classroom, home, city, world) a peaceful place to be? The dove is often used as a symbol for peace because they fly away from conflict. We discussed the meaning of peace and how that means there is no fighting. The children will decorate their own dove.

Social Studies:Discussed: Is the color of everyone’s skin the same? When something is different on the outside, does that mean it is different on the inside? We looked at two eggs; one was a brown egg and one was a white egg. We discussed how they were different. I asked the children if when I broke the egg open if it would also be different inside? I cracked the brown egg open and we looked at the egg parts. I then cracked the white egg beside the other egg and the children noticed that the egg looked the same on the inside. We discussed how this is like people, we may be different on the outside, but we are the same inside. We even compared our skin to our friends skin and noticed that everyone had a different skin tone.

Science:Discussed: Is your skin light or dark colored? We looked at different colors of paint and discussed how we could make different shades of a color by mixing colors together. We made different shades of brown and painted a picture of a person.

Physical Development: Discussed: How can sharing help make peace? I gave 5 children 1 piece of fruit and then some children had no fruit. We discussed how we could combine the fruit by cutting it into pieces and making a fruit salad that we could share. We discussed how we need to wash our hands and I cut the fruit and everyone got to share some fruit salad.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1: Little People Center 2: Peace Shaker- The children colored the paper plates, added beans and stapled together. Center 3: Dove Art- The children decorated their dove patterns to represent peace. Center 4: Skin Colors- The children experimented with paint to get a color that they liked to paint a person.

Calendar: Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Thomas put the number on the calendar and discussed the weather. He found the day of the week in Spanish. Thomas reviewed the colors, shapes and Sign Language words.

Brainstorm/Fun Facts: Reviewed what we learned about giraffe’s. The children told me everything they know about beads. Fun Facts: The use of beads in Africa can be traced back at least 12,000 years. The earliest beads were made of eggshell, clay, twigs, stones, ivory and bone. Today beads are made of wood, plastic, glass, metal and stone.

Creative Development: Discussed: What type of jewelry have you seen made from beads? Explained that each tribe in Africa makes a unique type of jewelry. One tribe that lives in Africa (the Masai tribe) uses beads to make jewelry for the men, women and children. We looked at the beaded bracelet that the kids made the other day in afternoon centers.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: What designs can you make with beads? Explained that African tribes have traditional clothes on which they sew on many beads to make unique designs or even pictures. They find shells or seeds to use as beads too. We looked at the Parquetry Cards and discussed the designs. The children took turns coming up and adding the correct size of foam shape to the card to complete the designs.

Language and Literacy: Discussed: What happens when you put letters (or letter sounds) together like you put beads together? I wrote the letter “i” and then a “t” on the wipe off board. We discussed the sound of each letter and then what they say together. We talked about how we made a word by putting letters together. We then added different letters to the beginning of the word family /it/. We also added an “s” at the end of the letters. We made several new words and read the new words and used them in sentences.

Social Studies: Discussed: What other things could you do with beads? Beads were once used as money in Africa and were called African Trade Beads.